An oft-overlooked piece of the LA pop-psych jigsaw, this 1967 oddity combines typically complex vocal arrangements by the legendary Curt Boettcher with virtuoso guitar interludes from LA session legend Mike Deasy, and features backing from the team responsible for the landmark Millennium and Sagittarius LPs. A truly deranged mixture of cover versions and originals, it’s presented here complete with four ultra-rare bonus tracks from non-album 45s, making it an essential purchase for fans of sunshine pop and psychedelia…~

It would be all too easy to simply write this off as a mere exploitation knock-off designed to catch naive hippies. It certainly is that, but it also has the hand (and voice) of Curt Boettcher all over it, and it features Mike Deasy, heavy L.A. session cat and sometime-member of Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew on guitar, musical arrangements and producing. Consisting of about half covers and half originals, the album could hardly be considered truly psychedelic (mostly thanks to the Boettcher vocals) but it is quite interesting in its own way. Deasy’s arrangements are strange and wonderful with some hot guitar playing and liberal use of the echoplex. He gives “Louie Louie,” the quintessential simple rock & roll tune, a wildly elaborate arrangement, virtually re-creating the tune entirely. He gives Nat Adderly and Oscar Brown, Jr.’s “Work Song” an echoplex and guitar intro, inserts a bit of twang then goes into a classical sounding passage and back. Oddly enough, it also sounds reminiscent of the Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction”! Deasy’s ultra-stoned sounding vocals on “Alley Oop” are hilarious. The originals can’t be called instrumentals due to Boettcher and company’s ever present wordless vocals, which get really bizarre on “Fendabenda Ha Ha Ha” and “Where Did Your Mind Go?.” [These tracks are a really odd combination of gonzo guitar soloing and the Living Voices on acid. The bonus tracks by the Flower Pot have actual lyrics and are less elaborately arranged than the Friar Tuck album, and have quite a different feel to them. “Black Moto” and “Wantin’ Ain’t Gettin” even have some sitar. Originally issued as 45 rpms, they’re a nice addition and it makes sense to gather Deasy’s originals all in one place. All in all, Friar Tuck & His Psychedelic Guitar is a thoroughly entertaining curiosity. [This album was reissued in 2007 with four bonus tracks from the Flower Pot.]… by Sean Westergaard….~

At first listen via Pandora this caught my ear as a goofy outing by some amateurs. However, after a few listens I noticed that the arrangements were pretty thick with musical quotes from many of the other groups of that time. The vocals are weird blends of choral harmonies matched with very casual lead vocals. My favorite is Alley Oop. The singer only sings a few lines in the song, and actually makes the song sound less contrived than the original. The Louie Louie arrangement is very very distant from the Kingsmen version. Also there’s alot of sound effect fun at the tail end of many of the songs. The lead guitar solos are not very interesting but I like this recording for the adventurous disregard of the original arrangements of the cover tunes. The musicians actually include some session players from the era. If you are saturated with the many similarities of the other “psychedelic” groups from that era, give this a listen to cleanse your palette…alternates between tongue-in-cheek and serious playing….by…TBo…~

What can I say about this wonderful record ? Once you go Friar tuck you’ll never go back , that is , if super psychedelic fuzz infused reverb dripping endless dreamy Ethereal Phil Spector like Pet sounds acid trips with Charles Manson at the psychedelic dance party is your thing ,the ultimate and essential cornerstone to any space age pop Psychedelia LSD exotica groove lounge collection ,Once I heard this LP I’ve spent years after trying to find something else that comes close to this , but with no avail , this is far too advanced , you could listen to this album a hundred times and still here new sounds and ideas within the layers upon layers of ethereal wordless vocal harmonies and raga reverb tremelo space echo guitar bliss , a precursor to My Bloody Valentine ?

Mike Deasy, Famous session guitarist who is still available to play on YOUR album today !!! Master of the sixties’ West Coast Sound , He worked closely with Phil Spector and Brian Wilson , among thousands of others ,you’ll find he played sitar on countless albums( such as Jackie Gleason’s Now Sound for Today’s Lovers) rivaled only by Bill Plummer ,Deasy teamed up with Gary Paxton , Ben Benay , and Kurt Boettcher many times , the vocal arrangements on this album are hands down the best I’ve ever heard from Curt Boettcher , and Ben Benay ’s own album “ Goldenrod” is actually the backing tracks from this album and the “ Millenium” album , the story goes that Deasy took acid with Charles Manson and the family back when Manson was hanging around the Beach Boys , somehow Mike blew his mind and had to be recovered after days of hiding in the woods , henceforth he became Friar Tuck , and the back of this LP reflects these disturbing times in his life with Manson-esque poetry Deasy played in Tommy Roe’s backup band and helped write Sweet Pea , and once they went to play the song at Disneyland whilst Deasy was fully clad in Friar Tuck garb , Disney would not allow him to enter the park other than to play with the band , he really was Friar Tuck during that phase thats the revelation ,

Mike Deasy also worked with Ry Cooder on ’ Tanyet ’ by the Ceyleib People. There are two types of people in this world , the pre- Friar Tuck who don’t know about this gem , and the post Friar Tuck , who have never been the same musically since hearing it ,(and perhaps a small third group who thinks I’m goofy?)…~

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